Comments on: And That Happened: Tuesday’s scores and highlightshttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/
Baseball. Baseball. And then a bit more baseball.Fri, 09 Dec 2016 15:38:13 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: Old Gatorhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-363210
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:33:58 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363210Essentially, yeah. I was baking a batch of banana bran muffins and a carambola upside down cake with a carombola creme filling, trying to make some use out of all the fruit our yard has been outputting this month. Most of all, though, a large and venerable literary organization has asked me to deliver the keynote address to its annual conference later this fall (my life as a graying eminence – so it goes), and I’ve been pretty much head-down into my belletristic labors. I would have had to work far too hard to insert some kind of rational commentary yesterday, and it would have been like pissing in the ocean. But I must admit, your own efforts oscillated between the Herculean and the Sisyphian. I was charmed by your repeated attempts to make sense, agree or disagree though I might. I can’t say that about too many others in the discussion.
]]>By: moogrohttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/comment-page-2/#comment-363189
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:07:06 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363189I loves me Gleeman, but aside from Motown you have way better taste in music than he does.
]]>By: moogrohttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/comment-page-2/#comment-363180
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 18:55:34 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363180Thanks for the XX rec. That’s the first time in a long time a music rec wasn’t precious and boring and/or ProTools thin and one-dimensional. That and Now I know are great. Thanks!
]]>By: natstowngreghttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-363118
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 17:30:49 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363118The Nats’ TV guys have what they call an ambush. It happens when a hitter jumps on the first pitch and hits the ball hard. That’s what Tyler Moore did to RA Dickey. He hit an inside hanging knuckleball (which looked just like a hanging cureveball) into the LF stands to give the Nats the lead…Jayson Werth was 5-for-5 getting on base, raising his OBP 11 points to .399…Monday, the Mets’ bullpen held the Nats hitless for 5 innings. Yesterday, the Mets’ bullpen returned to business as usual, with Frank Francisco and Josh Edgin allowing 2 in the 9th; as it turned out, the deciding runs.

Te Nats regain the 2 games they lost last weekend, and lead the Braves by 7.5. According to James Wagner of The Washington Post, the divisional magic number is 13. John Lannan fills in for Stephen Strasburg today. Lannan is from Long Island and has experience pitching in New York, so it’s not like giving a spot start to some rookie. Young Matt Harvey, who has had a good start to this MLB carer, starts for the Metropolitans.

]]>By: natstowngreghttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-363088
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 17:00:39 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363088They would have shut down Strasburg. Rizzo made that clear late last season, when Strasburg returned from the TJS. Before it was known that the Nats were headed to the playoffs. Some did not want to believe that Rizzo would do it. I did because Mike Rizzo strikes me as the kind of guy who sets a course and follows it. And he has followed it.

Eager? Not at all. This was a difficult situation. Perhaps it would have been easier if Strasburg had suffered his injury earlier or later in the 2010 season. Perhaps, either he would be past the need for a limit already, or would be recovering from surgery. But that’s just speculation. This whole thing was not about wanting to shut him down, it was about believing that shutting him down was the right thing.

]]>By: natstowngreghttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-363078
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:49:31 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363078Worst record to MLB to best record in MLB in 3 seasons. A farm system good enough to allow Rizzo to trade 4 prospects for a high-quality pitcher in Gio Gonzalez, and still provide depth for the 25-man roster. The record is there.

The haters claim it was luck. As though luck were not a part of developing a good team. Yes, two of the best propects of their generation fell to the Nats. But another GM might have shied away from picking them. Another GM might have refused to negotiate record-setting contracts with Scott Boras. Another GM might not have had the leeway from ownership to pay the big bucks. Rizzo did not shy away, and got the deals done.

In 20-20 hindsight, Stan Kasten erred in keeping Bowden as GM after the Lerners took over the franchise. Bowden did a few good things (ex., drafting Ryan Zimmerman and Ross Detwiler), but was otherwise a failure. Kasten did not err in hiring Rizzo from the D-backs to implement his plan for rebuilding the Nats the way he did with the Braves, around young talent.

]]>By: sometimesimisscandlestickhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/comment-page-2/#comment-363071
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:46:40 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363071As a very long time Giants fan, a six game lead with 20 to play does not seem like a lock to me.
]]>By: Old Gatorhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-363049
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:35:09 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363049Nahh, not the red stuff – I know what you’re talking about. It was more along the lines of light amber, like an ale. I sometimes wonder why I’m even chasing it down when you can’t find a smoked meat sandwich to eat with it in Macondo anyway. Pastrami, yeah, but it’s just not the same thing.
]]>By: stlouis1baseballhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/comment-page-2/#comment-363035
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:26:14 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363035The Cardinals are looking real good. Losers of 10 out of their last 14. Great times!
]]>By: stlouis1baseballhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-363024
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:15:27 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363024I couldn’t help but notice one person in particular was missing from yesterday’s rumblings.
Good call…and another reason why you are far more intelligent than I.
So…what did you do with your time? Eat, drink and stay merry?
]]>By: APBA Guyhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/comment-page-2/#comment-363022
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:12:11 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363022The pucker factor was massive among the A’s faithful last night. increasing to DEFCON 5 as Balfour got nobody out in the bottom of the 9th. Thank goodness Melvin actually manages (gone are the days of Macha and Geren: “He that am the closer shall be always the closer”) and he came and got Balfour. And thank goodness Blevins was “on” when called upon.

Before that, though, the wiggling act by Straily to get out of jam after jam (first inning, Angels on first and third, no outs: pop-up by Pujols, strike out of Morales, strike out of Kendrick.) had the old pucker meter twitching. So when Balfour decided to get nobody out, the pucker shot from already tense to DEFCON 5 with well practiced, well warmed ease.

Maybe some Angels fans are wondering what they have to do to beat the A’s. Well, just look at tape of last weeks’ sweep: don’t throw the ball down the middle. Moss has 18 HR’s in 201 AB’s. Carter has 14 in 177. There’s your slugging 1B alright, and all for around MLB minimum x2. And Crisp has two triples in two games. None of that happened in the Angels’ sweep last week.

Anyway, having guaranteed the series split, the A’s throw AJ “Mix-a-Lot” Griffin against Ervin Santana. I hope the Angels enjoy seeing right handed change-ups. They saw a few last night. They’ll see more, and better, tonight.

]]>By: Chris Fiorentinohttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-363017
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:09:12 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363017I despise KK as much as the next Phillies fan, but KK is 5-1 with a 1.49 ERA, 0.803 WHIP, 33/7 K/BB ratio in 42.1 innings his last 6 starts. Dude has been the best Phillies pitcher during their meteoric rise to mediocrity.
]]>By: nbjayshttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-363003
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:50:27 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-363003Sorry I can’t help you out with that, Gator. Unfortunately, I live about 1360 kilometers (850 miles for you south-of-the-49th folks) from The Big Smoke – the “nb” part of my handle denotes “New Brunswick” – so I have no clue what brand it may have been. One question, though… was it the clear cream soda or the obnoxious red stuff?
]]>By: 4d3fecthttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/comment-page-2/#comment-362959
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:52:32 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-362959“so the NL West is over”

Hmm, interesting….

]]>By: Old Gatorhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-362938
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:23:57 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-362938I am crossing the desert of the desolated regular season with my gaze fixed resolutely upon the oasis of the playoffs. I kinda feel like Lawrence of Arabia, going back into the Nefud to rescue that idiot who fell off his camel.
]]>By: pw38http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-362922
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 14:00:57 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-362922That had to be the longest extended home run trot in history by Beltre last night. Good the umps got it right though. The Rangers just need to keep on winning. There shouldn’t be any reason they can’t sweep the Indians and Mariners. Well, Seattle might pose a threat as they seem to be Rangers kryptonite this year. Still, the A’s refuse to go away and it almost seems like the schedulers had ESP when they scheduled the end of this season. This is going to be a wild ride to the finish for Texas. I think they’ll pull it out though.
]]>By: mattyflexhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-362917
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:44:57 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-362917Lorenzo Cain was just a yickety away from the cycle last night, and I understand if you don’t want to be the pitcher to give it up, but Perdomo threw at his face. Total and utter horseshit.
]]>By: indaburghttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-362902
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:27:40 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-362902Ah…my sarcasm meter is broken this morning.🙂
]]>By: heyblueyoustinkhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-362897
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:21:31 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-362897Sure, if the Phils make it to wild the wild card game, I fully expect Kendrick to start the game. In other news, I think i’ll ride a unicorn today.
]]>By: heyblueyoustinkhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2012/09/12/and-that-happened-tuesdays-scores-and-highlights-84/#comment-362892
Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:19:39 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=211608#comment-362892I kid, inda, I kid. For the record, sigh, I don’t actually believe Craig is slamming down vino first thing in the morning.